Railway safety was at the top of everyone’s minds last February, after a toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, sparked a health emergency. A new rail safety bill is winding its way through Congress, but that is a dim prospect as the media spotlight fades. Instead, local communities may have to wait until the era of autonomous electric vehicles begins to take shape and new safety-first technology plies the railways. Call Them Electric Vehicles, Not Trains. Derailments and toxic releases are the the first things that come to mind in terms of community rail safety, but even a non-derailed freight train can cause life-threatening problems. As train length increases, crossings are clogged for longer periods

Second generation Parallel Systems autonomous-electric rail vehicle. Vehicle is designed to carry . [+] cargo containers that might otherwise by transported by trucks or traditional freight trains. Parallel SystemsNo locomotive, no caboose, or even an engineer. The autonomous electric rail cars developed by Los Angeles-based Parallel Systems both power and drive themselves.Founded in 2020 by a group of former SpaceX engineers, Parallel Systems introduced the second generation of its autonomous electric rail vehicle Tuesday.The cars are designed to carry shipping containers along the nation's rail system in an effort to both provide cleaner freight transportation and help solve the ongoing commercial truck driver shortage, according to co-founder and CEO Matt Soule.In particular, the autonomous-electric rail vehicles could handle what's known as dreyage—transporting shipping containers from ports to inland destinations—routes that can range from a few miles to a few hundred miles. That's a role traditionally played by trucks.Matt Soule, co-founder and CEO Parallel Systems

Earlier this year, Parallel Systems, a company founded by former SpaceX engineers, announced that it had begun testing its new autonomous battery-electric rail vehicle and proprietary autonomous train control system, as it works toward developing a solution to move freight cleaner, faster, safer, and more cost effectively than traditional trains or trucks.